Vin Scully’s 2016 Dodgers Media Guide puts a 67-year long career into perspective

The 21st century has proven to be the age of information. From rapid fire-updates on twitter to Baseball-Reference box scores dating back to 1913, there seems to be no end in sight to the amount of news made public. While these technological shifts affect everyone, former Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully has a unique take on the recent changes.

The “Voice of the Dodgers” for 67 years, Scully witnessed everything from a franchise shift to six World Series wins, but also watched on as baseball’s media landscape became a sport within itself, as writers, broadcasters and bloggers competed to get the best information out first. But Scully knew better than to get caught up in the competitive hype.

“There is so much information,” Scully, the 1982 Ford C. Frick Award winner, said in an interview with VICE Sports. “In the old days, the ball clubs did not provide any information. They didn’t have media guides. You didn’t have all the notes and all the computerized paper that we receive now before every game.”

But the Hall of Fame collection has a number of media guides, dating back to when they were only “player rosters.” In 1950 – the year Scully began broadcasting for the Dodgers – the team published a 3-fold brochure, complete with sections on “Ownership”, “Coaches”, and “Players” divided into “Pitchers/Catchers/Infielders/Outfielders”. There was a small blurb on the manager at the time – Burt Shotton – and some rookies. And no mention of Scully, or his counterparts, Red Barber and Connie Desmond.

A far cry from the 400-page behemoths distributed to the media today, the 1950 Dodgers “player roster” is a bare bones as they come. But regardless of the disparity in information Scully had access to, he managed to transform baseball broadcasts into an art form, painting an elaborate scene for listeners nationwide. While the media landscaped changed over his 67 years as the Dodgers’ broadcaster, Scully didn’t, knowing just the right amount of information to use at the right time.

“All in all, the information helps you,” Scully said to VICE. “But it can be like the Sirens in the song of the Lorelei. They can lure you onto the rocks unless you are very careful.”